Recent Entries

Whitepaper on sending mass E-mail

As part of a consulting contract, I've developed a white-paper on best practices for sending bulk E-mail messages. If you are interested in getting a draft, please let me know.

I'll post a link to the final copy once a few people have had a chance to review it.

---Jack

Current Mood: annoyed

New computer on the way ....

So, in order to do the labs in preparation for the RHCSA/RHCE exams, I needed a new computer. The problem is that RedHat 6 uses something called KVM for their virtualization program. This relies on a hypervisor. The hypervisor emulation isn't available for Linux on my MacOSX VMware Fusion 5 or on my old laptop (which only has 1GB of memory only). So a new box is needed.

A tower solution seemed to be the best as it was cheaper than a laptop and had more power. I'm still a bit on the fence about this one, although the tower is set to arrive today. As long as the hypervisor works and there are no weird linux/graphics card issues, then this is the box that I'll probably stick to. If not, I can try a laptop from WallMart (they have excellent prices).

Still, this is only adding to my costs for the RHCE certification (sigh). On the good side, there are no surprises in the material so far.

Current Mood: amused

Entry tags:

When not to Grocery Shop

I used to think the witching hour for grocery shopping was that time just before dinner, when everyone was in a mad rush to get something before coming home.

Then I discovered that family shopping time with little ones occurs Saturday & Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday beat both. It was old folks shopping time. In that time after lunch and before working people get home, all of the retired people are getting their groceries. They've completed bridge or their morning senior center activity and now, fully energized, proceed to the grocery store in order to walk at a top speed of 1/4 MPH. They are nice enough - no screaming kids - but it is slow. Confusion abounds as one shopping cart is trying to go one direction while the other card is trying to go the other direction. Or, a cart will park itself as the person goes to get an item from the same shelf that you need to get an item from. They are ahead of you and it is like watching slow motion replay. What once would take seconds, now takes minutes.

Sigh.

When I get to that age and become that slow, I'm just going to send someone else out to do the shopping.

The certification trap

I'm officially in the certification trap!

I'll be taking the ITILv3 in early March.
The RHCSA on the ides of March and the RHCE towards the end of March.

The ITILv3 is a great framework. It is useful for my consulting practice and will be useful if I go to an organization that uses the concept of best practices in their IT work. It is a nice little tag to add to the resume.

The RHCSA/RHCE are slam dunks. I do need to study in order to fill in some gaps, but I did well on the assessment test so there should be no surprises.

So the weirdness to the exams is location. The ITILv3 is in New York City, so I have a place to crash. The RHCSA/RHCE exams are only offered on Friday's which makes travel a pain. Based on my location, I'll be driving to Toronto for one and driving to Boston for the other.

Current Mood: hopeful

Quick News

Got checked out by the Dr. yesterday. I have official lost weight (about 1 stone) and my blood pressure dropped since leaving Synacor.

Also, I've had a nice conversation with a professional recruiter for WNY. I'm optimistic about this one.

Certification Musings

While between jobs, I'm looking at the certification racket.

From the management side, there is an ITIL foundation certification. That particular certification doesn't seem expensive. Exam ~$200 and bootcamp style class for ~$500.

From the technical side, there are the RHCSA and RHCE certifications. The classes are a major gouge. The exams themselves are $400 each. I have the knowledge but there are a few areas I could brush up on. Books are about $40 but instruction ranges into the $3k-$7k range easy. That is why it is a racket.

Now a RHCA seems to be a nice certification but it takes work to get there. It requires an RHCE and about 5 other exams. Naturally it represents brainwashing the RedHat way but it does show the technical creds on building an infrastructure.

Anyone have thoughts on this one.

Odds and Ends

Yesterday was my annual physical. Since leaving Synacor I've lost enough weight to be considered within a healthy range. Other things that checked out were heart, blood pressure, blood work, reflexes, and the finger exam.

Whoever comes up with a practical alternative to the finger exam could become wealthy.

On the job front:

one call with a regional professional recruiter who was nervous. It was a bit of a roll reversal and uncomfortable.
one call with the NY professional recruiter who was more social than business - it seemed to be managing my expectations down
one application to Yahoo for an SRE based in Lockport. This may get stuck in the hopper
one LA professional recruiter who flaked on a call time. I've rescheduled for today
followup call with CIO for First Niagara. Went to voicemail - I doubt he will return my call
followup call with CIO for Independent Health - She is going on a trip and probably won't get back to me until the end of the week
voicemail to an inside contact as First Niagara. It is the 2nd voicemail. I don't want her to think that I'm stalking her so I'll probably back off.
Finally, the tailor called to say that the interview suit wouldn't be ready. That is O.K. because I was getting the suit ready for the local professional recruiter, who doesn't seem to want to meet face to face yet

Progress, but no interview with a firm yet.

Definitely a health bonus to leaving Synacor

Between Jobs

As many of you already know, I am between jobs. Synacor and I parted ways - to be blunt, they got rid of me. Fit and communication style were major contributors to the friction between us and the writing was on the wall for quite some time.

Gory details are available privately, if requested.

This is an opportunity to re-think my current career and dream of doing something where I may be a better fit - not only in terms of communication style but in terms of the type of work.

Unfortunately it is not the job market to try to be too fussy, not the time to pick and choose. Instead the goal is to avoid a job that I would be miserable and ineffective.

Right now I have two recruitment agencies that I am working with and one recruitment agency that I'm trying to engage.

It is positive.

First Posting - Why Blog?

This is my first blog entry.

I'm not a facebook person - it is simply a question of trust and ever changing user interfaces.

A goal of this blog is to improve my writing and help to keep in touch. If it is not worthwhile for keeping in touch, then it is still useful for writing practice.

Without further ado ...